Combined management of malignant teratoma of the testis

Intensive chemotherapy with bleomycin and vinblastine was used as initial treatment in patients with advanced testicular teratoma and after relapse following lymph-node irradiation in patients with early-stage disease. Between January, 1976, and March, 1978, 84 patients, 28 with early disease and 56 with advanced disease, were treated. All 28 men with early-stage disease are alive and disease-free. Patients with advanced disease were divided into two groups. Patients with bulky multiple lung metastases and those with liver involvement did poorly, only 4 of 23 (17.4%) being disease-free. Conversely, patients with bulky abdominal nodes and those with limited lung disease did well, 17 of 21 previously untreated patients (80.9%) being alive and disease-free. Within the latter group, 16 patients were managed with chemotherapy and radiotherapy and/or surgery. Of these, 15 (93.4%) are disease-free.